Update from Brittany
It’s a rainy Sunday in Concarneau, Brittany, and we’re having a day off.  Passing showers are apparently left-over from a tropical storm which the USA enjoyed a week or so ago, but it has also definitely cooled down considerably (btw – what defines ‘tropical’? – brrr).

We have enjoyed making our way up the west coast of France in the past week or so.  Bordeaux is a beautiful city, astride the River Garonne, with a long promenade of stately buildings, and gardens and tree-lined boulevards running off it.  We had a very warm, sunny day to explore, and one of the highlights was the Mirror Lake on the promenade in front of La Bourse, which cycles through 3 stages: it starts with a misty spray at knee height, then it floods the surface to about 2cm deep to make the mirror, then drains away again completely after about 10 minutes.  Amazing how much fun you can have with a bit of water and a flat surface.  The kids loved it of course, splashing around everywhere, and the adults also got to mess around without getting seriously wet.  It does require some patience to get a photo of reflections though – until everyone has stopped splashing!

Then it was on to La Rochelle, the yachting capital of the Atlantic coast, with a nice waterfront lined with cafes (of course), and note the lighthouse stuck in between the buildings.  There are also huge marinas outside the old port, and a very interesting aquarium on the wharf, exhibiting environments and sea creatures from all the oceans of the world, and good captions in both French and English.

Next stop was Vannes, now in Brittany proper.  Vannes is one of the most attractive medieval towns we’ve explored so far (amongst many), set at the head of a huge bay, which is virtually an enclosed sea, and filled with hundreds of islands, many inhabited but only accessible by boat.  The old town is surrounded by high walls, and has many narrow, cobbled streets and lanes with timber frame buildings leaning in all directions.  We had a very pleasant lunch in a bistro on the ramparts, overlooking the chateau gardens (which can be seen in the photo with a green awning and umbrellas).

Going north from Nantes on the Loire, the houses suddenly change from the Mediterranean look of stucco or sandstone & terracotta tile roofs, to white stone or whitewashed walls and grey slate roofs with high pitches.  This look, and the countryside, villages and towns are very similar to Cornwall and Wales, probably because the Bretons have a shared Celtic ancestry with the Cornish and the Welsh.

They even have a different language (Breton) which is seems to originate from Gaelic, and many road signs are in both French and Breton languages, and designs on many arts & crafts are very Celtic.

On the way north from Vannes we stopped off to see the pre-historic megaliths and menhirs near Carnac & Quiberon on the coast.  These have been here for some 4,000 years, and, like Stonehenge in England, are steeped in mystery.  Thousands of them are lined up in the fields for no apparent reason – possibly religious or astronomical.  There are also some with stones laid on top which are assumed to be burial chambers for individuals, plus large stone mounds (tumulus) which are definitely burial chambers for ‘nobility’.
Brittany is also home to the fictional tribe of Asterix the Gaul (the cartoon character) whose immensely strong sidekick Obelix is often depicted delivering a ‘menhir’ on his back.

We are now in Concarneau, not far south of Brest:

Concarneau is an historical fishing port, with their traditional main catch being sardines.  It is also another main yachting centre on this coast (picture of hire yachts lined up included to keep JB happy).  What is also unusual is the old medieval walled town is actually an island in the middle of the harbour, only accessible by a bridge at the north end, and a small ferry for pedestrians at the south end.  We had lunch in the old town yesterday, which is a pure tourist trap of course, but still quaint and great seafood (and wine).

We are booked on a ferry from Roscoff, on the north coast of Brittany, to Plymouth in Devon next Wednesday, 26th September, so we will be making our way there over the next few days.  We don’t know if the ferry will actually be running as we heard yesterday they had cancelled all ferries until further notice, due to French wharfies staging random wildcat strikes, and totally disrupting schedules.  Hopefully it will be resolved by the time we go, but we may just end up spending further time in Brittany.  We had planned to visit Cornwall and Devon for 2 weeks before we are due back in London for doctor’s appointments for blood tests, check-ups etc. in mid-October.  We’ll see how it goes.

à tout à l’heure !